Miura scored 55 goals in 89 games for Japan but the decision to axe him from the national team's squad by former coach Takeshi Okada before the country's first World Cup appearance in 1998 sparked outrage.

Unperturbed, Miura defiantly offered his services for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa -- with no apparent hint of irony -- at the ripe old age of 43.